Have you encountered the 卍 symbol gracing what looks like not a Buddhist temple but a shop or private home while wandering down an alley? It marks the house of a Korean shaman.
Not everyone believes media accounts that there are one million shamans in contemporary South Korea, but shamanism does remain a potent force.
I am from South Korea, but I make it a point not to write or speak in Korean about this country. That my Korean language skills have ossified from disuse is only one reason; it is more that my brushes with South Korean media are rarely uplifting. A case in
In 2014, pop star Park Bom, of the group 2NE1 made headlines with her alleged drug usage back in October 2010. The singer had ordered 82 amphetamine pills labelled ‘gummy bears’ from the U.S. and dispatched them to her grandmother’s address in the port city of Incheon
